1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 147 Mini Tiller
After breakfast, Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiu returned to their room and closed the door, but Li Xiu didn't rush to count the money.

"Jiazhi, Brother Yi has a problem with you taking Xiaolong to sell vegetables."

"I know, I figured it out a long time ago." Chen Jiazhi smiled and said easily, "You can rest assured and take care of your pregnancy. I'll handle these things."

"Okay, don't worry about it, just don't cause any conflict."

Li Xiu hesitated for a while. In the first six months after they arrived, everyone had a hard time, and the two of them had it especially tough. Their second sister and Brother Yi had also helped them a lot.

Now that life is better, things are a bit awkward between us.

This was especially true after Yi Long arrived.

After thinking for a while, Li Xiucai took out the money again and started counting it.

"I'm going to inspect the fields."

"it is good."

As soon as he stepped outside, he ran into Yi Dinggan. Chen Jiazhi didn't avoid him, but went up to him, offered him a cigarette, and casually asked, "How's the land preparation going?"

"Two batches of seeds have been sown, and another batch will be sown today."

Yi Dinggan took the cigarette and said, "It's a bit gloomy today, it might rain. There's still no sign of anything happening at your new rented land."

They walked one after the other on the ridge of the field.

Chen Jiazhi said, "We're about to get started. There's just too much to do; we've been too busy to keep up."

"Oh."

Both of them knew that the problem was simply that there were too many vegetables, and harvesting them took too much time.

After walking in silence for a while, just as they were about to part ways, Yi Dinggan said again, "If Xiaolong wants to follow you, then follow you. He likes being with you anyway."

Chen Jiazhi: "Why does that sound so sour?"

Yi Ding chuckled and cursed, "Damn it, don't pretend to be innocent after getting the benefit. I'm the old man here."

Chen Jiazhi laughed and went to inspect the fields. Actually, Yi Dinggan was just jealous.

It's because Yi Long preferred following him after the first few days, especially after they went to sell vegetables.

However, they also have to blame themselves. They wanted to make up for their guilt towards their son, but they went too far.

Anyway, my second sister and Yi-ge have always been confused about their children.

First, there was favoritism. As Yi Dinggan entered middle and old age, Xiao Hu would accuse him of favoritism to his face every time. Apart from saying "no," Yi Dinggan could not give any examples of not being biased.

Then there's the guilt in my heart, but I often miss out on some of my children's important life events.

Xiao Long and Xiao Hu were born in 81 and 82, respectively. Their parents were never around when they were in school. The two brothers got married in their hometown about a year apart, but they didn't seem to have much of a relationship with their second sister, Yi Ge.

They found their partners on their own, held their own wedding, and their parents stayed in Shanghai and didn't go back, so it didn't cost them much money.

When they met again, they were grandparents. After that, Yi Ge and his second sister returned to Chengdu to rent land to grow vegetables.

Chen Jiazhi followed suit and went back, bringing his two sons and mother together, thus salvaging some of the education he had given his sons.

Thinking about these things, Chen Jiazhi felt a little emotional; there were too many illiterate people in his family!
The next generation is being pulled out, and a whole bunch of them didn't even finish primary or junior high school. Nine years of compulsory education is like child's play for them. Many of them can't even remember the 26 letters of the English alphabet; they'd be scratching their heads when they got to the fifth or sixth letter.

You need to study even to grow vegetables!
Anyway, he will never let his child be a left-behind child again in his life, and some regrets can never be made up for.

...

Chen Jiazhi walked quickly with short steps, and finished inspecting plots 2 and 3 in a short time.

Apart from the additional 5 mu of land each person received, there wasn't much open space left, and the harvestable vegetables were nearing the end of their growing season.

Chen Jiazhi slowed down when they arrived at plot number one.

The situation of Plot No. 1, managed by Ao Dehai, is the most complicated. In addition to the small plot, there are two plots reserved for seed production.

Chen Jiazhi stopped in front of the large bone water spinach, frowned, and thought, "Something's not right!"
This water spinach is growing way too lush!

The water spinach field was lush and green, with tall and thick plants growing vigorously, indicating a high yield.

But he wants to preserve his offspring.

Are you kidding me? According to the normal timeline, it should be flowering and producing seeds.

As a result, he walked back and forth along the furrows, but he didn't see any flowers, or even many buds.

What's going on? Even water spinach (a metaphor for a plant-based plant) is now getting married and having children later in life!

Ao Dehai was weeding in the water spinach field when he followed him over.

"Boss, are you buying water spinach today? It's a bit of a waste to save the seeds."

"We must stay. We can't give up halfway. Let's treat this as a lesson learned."

Chen Jiazhi was still looking down at the vegetables: "It's probably because the temperature is too high, and the plants are growing too vigorously, which has affected flowering and seed production. It seems that the timing of seed saving is also crucial."

"Also, the plant is too tall. Only the top clump produces seeds. If we prune the top to encourage lateral branch growth, would the seed yield be higher?"

Listening to his boss's analysis and summary, Ao Dehai was stunned for a moment, then felt that it made a lot of sense.

Chen Jiazhi continued to observe and felt that his idea was feasible. He would have to try it again next year, as there probably wouldn't be a chance this year.

Too early, when the temperature is high, the plant grows vigorously, which is not conducive to flowering and seed production;
However, delaying the ripening process can also cause problems, such as slower seed maturation, which affects yield and results in less plump grains.

Also, pruning promotes branching.
Consider this a lesson learned.

After passing the big bone green, we arrived at the fields of loofah and bitter gourd.

The remaining bitter melons had turned a bright pink color, and some of the skins had cracked open, scattering the seeds all over the ground.

The loofah has turned dark green or brown, and you can hear the seeds rattling when you shake it gently.

Breeding and seed saving is a really technical job, although I don't know what the standard procedure is.

But Chen Jiazhi felt he had made many mistakes. For example, the scattered bitter gourd seeds were wasted; he should have harvested them one by one as they ripened.

As for loofah, if you follow up with fertilizer and strengthen management later, you should be able to produce fruit while saving seeds.

Adapting to adversity is probably not so easy to achieve, otherwise there would be no shortage of high-quality seeds in China.

Now I've lost a lot of money for no reason.

Hong Zhong also complained about him many times. Although others didn't say it to his face, they must have said behind his back that he was being delusional.

However, Chen Jiazhi enjoyed it, and even a little experience could be a valuable gain.

...

After inspecting the fields, Ao Dehai and the other two waited.

"Quickly apply fermented pig manure to the newly rented land, then plow it, mix it evenly, and let it dry for later use."

"I plan to start large-scale planting in early August. The land needs to be turned over around the 25th of this month and left to dry in the sun for a few more days..."

Chen Jiazhi only emphasized land preparation; the rest were routine tasks, which he briefly touched upon, leaving Ao Dehai and the others to arrange themselves.

How to arrange work more reasonably is also something the three of them need to learn.

Besides his teaching, you also have to figure it out yourself.

Once you've learned this, the next step is to plan the sowing process: when to sow, what vegetables to plant, and how large an area to plant...

There is still a long way to go.

After giving his explanation, Chen Jiazhi went home and found a basin. Li Xiu, who was washing clothes in the dam area, saw it and asked, "Jiazhi, what are you going to do with that basin?"

"The bitter melons are ripe, I'll go pick them and bring them back. I'll have to pick them every day from now on."

"Oh." Li Xiu's eyes flickered, and she said, "Then leave the rest to me. There's not much work to do."

"Okay."

Before long, Chen Jiazhi returned from the field with a small basin of bitter melons. He removed the small ones and kept the large ones, and they were all high-quality melons, soft to the touch.

Once we got to the dam area, we first put the bitter melon on the ground, then used our hands to remove the seeds from the melon and put them in a basin. After washing it with clean water, we found an open space to dry it.

"Li Xiu, I'm going to learn to drive and also to check out the mini-tiller. I won't be back until noon. Remember to harvest the seeds as soon as they're dry."

"Okay, leave everything to me from now on."

...

It was gloomy and a bit stuffy in the morning, but not sunny.

Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and Ao Deliang each led their own people to prepare the land.

They would either carry or lift the sacks filled with fermented pig manure and place them evenly in the ground, cut a hole in them, then drag the sacks around to let the pig manure spill out. They would then spread it out with a shovel and finally use a hoe to dig and mix it evenly.

Facing the loess soil with their backs to the sky, every time they wield their hoes, sweat drips onto the soil.

After a while, the sun pierced through the clouds again, and it seemed that the rain was not going to fall.

"Why is the sun out again?!"

As soon as the sun came out, Jin Feng quickly grabbed her straw hat and put it on, and also took Pan Dacheng's hat for him.

Pan Dacheng didn't want to wear it, "It's too hot to wear, and I'm already dark-skinned anyway."

Jin Feng forced it on him, scolding, "The sun is scorching. If you don't wear it, your scalp will hurt later."

Ao Dehai, leaning on his hoe, said, "Dacheng, put on your straw hat, or you'll get heatstroke."

Pan Dacheng took the hat and reluctantly put it on, saying, "At first I thought it was going to rain."

Ao Dehai wiped his sweat: "It's best if it rains now. Boss Chen wants everything dug out by the 25th. If it rains again, it will delay things by two or three days."

Today is the 17th, and it seems like there are still eight or nine days left, but the weather is hot, and we have to harvest the vegetables tonight. We only have time to prepare the land in the morning.

Ao Dehai gained four mu of new land, while Ao Deliang and Qi Yongfeng each gained five mu. The daily harvesting of vegetables also created vacant land.

The process of preparing new land is also quite extensive. Some plots need to be consolidated into larger ones, and then fertilization, disinfection, drying, deep plowing, more drying, and more shallow plowing are required. Later, small greenhouses and shade nets will also need to be erected.
Time is actually very tight.

Chen Jiazhi was aware of this, so he made sure to work hard every morning.

But that's not enough. In their previous life, a couple was able to manage 10 acres of vegetable gardens thanks to machinery.

Especially rotary tillers and micro-sprinkler irrigation.

For now, water pumps are a temporary substitute for micro-sprinkler irrigation, and it's time to buy back a micro-tiller.

Chen Jiazhi had previously asked Hong Zhong to keep an eye out for relevant information during a meal, and only later learned that mini tillers were already being sold in China.

These are all brands he is quite familiar with: Shandong Shifeng, Guangxi Wuling, and Jiangsu Changfa.

Other products include Niu Agricultural Machinery from Taiwan and Kubota imported from Japan.

However, Chen Jiazhi ultimately chose Changfa, which has a larger horsepower and a smaller turning radius, making it more suitable for vegetable fields.

There happened to be someone selling it in Huacheng.

After learning to drive at the driving school in the morning, Chen Jiazhi went to a farm machinery store according to the location given by Hong Zhong.

After inspecting the goods and confirming that there were no problems, Chen Jiazhi bought them directly for 3800 yuan, which was more than half the price of imported ones.

The first machine is for the workers to practice on.

Around noon, the rain still hadn't started, so Chen Jiazhi hired a tricycle and took a mini-tiller back to the market.

Quietly, unnoticed.

It wasn't until the afternoon when Ao Dehai, Qi Yongfeng, and others woke up that they noticed a shiny iron tower under the eaves.

(End of this chapter)